Today's "Beat Up On Herman Cain" feature is a video compilation of the nine craziest things that Herman Cain has said since he entered the public arena, courtesy of ThinkProgress:

My personal favorites from the video:

Cain doesn't believe in the First Amendment's right to freedom of religion.

He's anti-abortion in all circumstances (even in cases of rape and incest) - but he supports a family's decision to break said anti-abortion law if they so choose. I don't pretend to understand, but that's what he said.

He wants to put an electrified fence (complete with alligator-filled moat) on the US's southern border.

He considers all Muslims potential terrorists.

He would literally empower the nation's biggest polluters to write their own environmental regulations (note: this is a correct use of the word "literally" - I wouldn't want to offend The Oatmeal.)

I have no idea what to make of the fact that, in a number of Republican primary states, Herman Cain is currently polling at 30% or higher. Really? One-third of Republicans (or more) REALLY want this guy to lead the country? Are they really THAT unhappy with the rest of the Republican field? Is this a sign of voter desperation? Collective insanity? I'm baffled. Sure - if you read this blog regularly, you know that I disagree with most of the Republican candidates' policy positions, but at least some of the candidates are intelligent, relatively articulate, and non-clueless - Cain has none of those traits.

If I were one of the other Republican candidates, I would be seriously questioning whether I wanted to continue running for the nomination from a party whose membership gives such substantial support to a guy who's so obviously, publicly, and proudly crazy, dumb, or shilling for a talk radio or TV pundit gig (think Sarah Palin).

For the first time in a long time, I actually feel sorry for the likes of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. At least they sort of know what they're talking about - though that doesn't seem to do them much good with the current Republican-voting public, however.

3 comments:

This is not my original thought and I can't recall from whom I got the notion, but in simple terms, you can sum it up with two words: Uncle Tom.

The premise I heard is that someone is paying him to play candidate (not in the same way that the suckers are paying Palin and Gingrich). The purpose is at least two-fold: A) "see, America, we have one, too." and, 2) to try and attract black and color-blind moderates as the black-not-named-Obama they could stomach voting for.

Rachel called it a long time ago that neither Palin nor Gingrich were actually running—they were just milking the donors for all their cash. That's why neither have ever filed—they'd then have to disclose. They don't want that.

Bottom line? Cain is not a serious candidate, but there are some people on the right behind the scenes who want people to think he is.

I have similar suspicions, especially considering that much of Cain's financial support seems to come from Koch-brother-funded groups. I wonder if they want Cain in the race to make the other candidates seem reasonable by comparison ... but what I don't understand at all is Cain's current level of popular support. I just don't get how, after listening to this man speak, any human capable of critical thought would continue to support him.

About This Blog

I am one of the largely nameless, faceless bureaucrats who work tirelessly (and largely thanklessly) to help ensure that poor people don't go hungry - and a billion other tasks government bureaucrats do that no one notices until something stops working. Living and working in DC is making me angry - and I vent my anger as thoughtfully as I can. Well, OK, maybe I'm not terribly angry ... but I thought it was a good name for a blog. If you're also a bureaucrat, or angry, or thoughtful, I'm happy to entertain guest posts.